A New Arrest in the Russian Crypto Scam Finiko Took Place in the UAE. Law enforcement officials in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a senior agent of Finiko, wanted for his role in a crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors worldwide. This is the second arrest in the Gulf state of a person at the top of the pyramid announced last month.
Interpol arrested Finiko Fraudster in the United Arab Emirates, Russia requested his extradition
Another person who organized Russia’s biggest financial pyramid in recent years, Finiko, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates. Edward Sabirov’s arrest in the Arab world comes after news last month of the arrest of Ponzi scheme mastermind Zygmunt Zygmuntovich. Both are said to have played an important role in extorting millions of dollars from fraudsters.
Sabirov was placed on the international wanted list on November 11. On the 12th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia told the news agency RIA Novosti. The UAE National Bureau of Interpol announced his arrest on November 2. 30. The Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol has already asked the UAE authorities for a 60-day detention and announced that Russia wants to extradite him from the country’s justice system.
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Another of Finiko’s famous representatives, Marat Sabirov, is still being sought. Investigators show that the Sabirovs are closely connected to the top management of the crypto pyramid, being partners of its founder and head, Kirill Doronin, who has been in Russian prison since July 2021. Together with Zygmuntovich, they managed to leave Russia as the system failed.
Finiko, which has never been included, is based in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. It has branches in more than 70 regions of Russia and other promoted investments in virtual platforms, providing high returns of up to 5% per day. Last year, Russian civil servants said they received about 10,000 applications from victims claiming to have lost more than 5 billion rubles (nearly $80 million).
However, the actual damage caused by the Finiko incident seems to be too much. Ponzi schemes have raised capital from countless investors in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, EU countries such as Germany, Austria and Hungary, the United States and elsewhere. Many victims were tricked into sending cryptocurrency to Finiko’s wallet, and according to a report from Chainalysis, the pyramid received more than $1.5 billion worth of bitcoins between December 2019 and August 2021.
Besides Doronin, Zygmuntovich and the Sabirovs, more than 20 other people were accused of involvement in the massive fraud. The list includes Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdullina as well as Finiko’s deputy chairman Ilgiz Shakirov, who was arrested in Tatarstan. Anna Serikova, the managing director of Finiko, better known by the pseudonym of Tiffany, was arrested.
